HCM City hosts Tet celebration for Overseas Vietnamese

Ho Chi Minh City on February 6 held a get-together to celebrate the upcoming traditional New Year (Tet) festival for about 600 Overseas Vietnamese returning home from 25 countries and territories.

A number of individuals with outstanding contributions to the city's development were honoured at the event (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the event, Vice Secretary of the municipal Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said that the event shows the special attention to the Overseas Vietnamese community and their valuable contributions to the homeland.

Briefing the participants on socio-economic development of the city recently, Phong recognised the contributions of the Vietnamese community abroad to the growth of the city as an inseparable part of the Vietnamese nation.

Phong also showed his hope that the expats will continue promoting the patriotism tradition and joining hands with the locality to fulfil all socio-economic tasks for 2018, enhancing the city’s living standard quality.

Chau Ba Long, an expat from Australia, said that the Vietnamese community abroad is proud of their role as an inseparable part of the nation. The community is striving to integrate into the host society and maintain close relations with the homeland.

Expressing his impression of the city’s growth and dynamism, Long thanked the city for creating favourable conditions for Overseas Vietnamese to return to the city to live, work, run business, and do social activities. He also expressed the community’s wish to contribute to boosting the city’s rapid, sustainable development.

On the occasion, the city honoured 15 individuals showing excellent contributions to the city’s growth in 2017.

A photo exhibition was also launched to showcase hundreds of photos featuring the development of the city as well as the contributions of the Overseas Vietnamese community to the growth.